The October 2011 Alaska Economic Trends looks at our gross state product, a.k.a state gross domestic product (GDP). Alaska's GDP represents the value of all goods and services produced in the state, is a rough estimate of our state's economic health because it is so all-inclusive. In 2010 that number was $49 billion, 25 percent of it from oil, followed by the public sector (federal, state and local government) at 19 percent of GDP:
"At $63,424, Alaska’s per capita GDP is highest in the nation. Although there is typically a correlation between per capita income — for which Alaska is an important difference. While income data are for Alaska residents only, GDP measures the market value of goods and services produced in the state without differentiating between residents and nonresidents.
"For example, wages and salaries paid to people working in Alaska are part of the state’s GDP, regardless of where the workers live. Similarly, the profi ts — or in GDP terms, the 'net operating surplus' — of companies operating in Alaska are part of the state’s GDP, whether or not these profi ts stay in Alaska. Alaska’s high per capita GDP numbers show the state’s economy is especially productive relative to its population, but much of that is tied to the high value in recent years of Alaska’s commodities, especially oil and minerals."
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